Eternal Freedom Horse Rescue Under Fire

Stephanie Lynn is currently caring for 35 horses at her eternal freedom horse rescue horse near Greenhead.

She either owns them, is boarding them, or has them up for adoption. Some believe Lynn’s bitten off more than she can chew.

"I wouldn't have more than about 10 that would be the most I'd have," Carolyn Gable with Keller Vet Service.

"We took in more because I can't say, 'no' sometimes. When someone shows me a picture of a horse, like Travler who was nothing but skin and bones, I can't say, 'no' knowing that that horse may die, said Stephanie Lynn.

But others say it’s more than the number of horse, it’s the condition of the rescue.

"They need to either be up in a stall where they have hay, water, salt and grain or on a beautiful pasture with green grass where they can graze. If they are on some kind of a dirt lot, they need to have good hay and good food," said Gable

"Because of all the sand out here we worry about sand colic which is the leading killer of horses. We do everything we can to prevent that. We've got Metamucil which is like sand clear recommended by the vet to clean them out," said Lynn.

"Even if you're feeding them Metamucil once a month or whatever to help with that you're still putting them in a bad situation,” said Gable.

Lynn’s critics say the sandy, overcrowded pasture isn’t the only problem. They say that Lynn may have and good intentions when she began her Eternal Freedom rescue operation, but they claim she’s doing more harm than good.

"When I first met her she had 15 and some would look awful then they'd plump up and get better. But now it looks like its just gotten out of control," said client Christy McAlister.

One horse owner, who boarded his horses, Jack, Jill and Robin at Eternal Freedom, sent us these pictures as proof of what he calls abuse.

"Jack and Jill were both cases at the time when they came in we were feeding beet pulp I'm which we now realize is not a good choice of feed. It's good to put weight on but you have to have it with something else. So here something we thought would make the horses gain weight went in reverse.”

"Nobody just feeds their horse beet pulp,” said Gable.

"That's fiber. That's no different than me giving my kid celery every day for every meal and expecting them to function," said McAlister.

Lynn insists most of her customers are happy.

"The people who come out and the people who are still current and good on their contracts- those are the people who know what we're doing out here is great,” said Lynn.

"I happen to know some of the horse inspectors and other horse rescues people who have been out there and say there's too many horses and their not being cared for how they should be."

But Lynn says Eternal Freedom regularly passes county animal control checks and says the toughest part is the attacks.

“I work 3 jobs, this and two other jobs, to afford everything out here. And to have people attack me saying that I'm doing something wrong is just hateful. There's no other word for it but hate," said Lynn.

"There are a lot of people who hoard animals and think they're helping them, but they're not. In the end it's better to save 2 horses than starve 60.

Lynn also has some of the bureau of land management’s horses and says she passed their routine check Thursday.

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